Somewhat Bad News: Espaillat is not going to Congress
Unequivocally worse news: He is probably staying in the State Senate Espaillat Concedes to Rangel, Remains Mum on Reelection Plans politicker.com
The Board of Elections is still looking for an Executive Director.
The one essential credential for the job is an inability to blush. More Ballots Found In Espaillat/Rangel Primary www.nydailynews.com
Against all odds, Rory Lancman displays some class. Lancman Says He’d Vacate WFP Line For Meng | City & State www.cityandstateny.com
One must hand it to Eric Ulrich; if one is going have convicted felons help in one's campaign, John Haggerty is the class of the of the field, although some have supposedly complained that his rates are a bit steep, even though he does work on a sliding scale. John Haggerty, Convicted Of Stealing Bloomberg’s Money, Submits Ulrich’s Petition Signatures | City. www.cityandstateny.com
Only the most inside of insiders know that the place for hot gossip about the internal machinations of the Brooklyn GOP is on the bottom of old threads from the semi-defunct independent Republican blog "Atlas Shrugs in Brooklyn"
Here's the latest concerning Brooklyn GOP petitioning efforts:
Female with Etiquette: Looks like Assembly candidates all over Brooklyn are struggling to make the ballot along with their State Senate free-riders.
41st- Hayon is hospitalized with a case of the gout.
44th- who is Catherine Fox?
45th- Gallo has no team or friends.
46th- Lucretia Potter and Joe McCarthy are both collecting signatures to see who gets to lose to Brook-Krasny this time around.
47th- James the Rippa- Again, who?
48th- The Brooklyn GOP’s best chance- Democrat Dov Hikind.
Senator Storobin- paying for petitions? That’s what was on facebook today…
Senator Golden- Did you get called yet?
And
Berardelli's "Early Retirement: When it comes to cleaning and binding, is anybody there — does anybody care?:
There’s some evidence that Gene “RR” Berardelli might have already retired from some of his key functions as Kings County GOP Law Chairman.
The word we have received is that in some districts candidates are participating in their own “cleaning” and binding based on superficial instructions provided by “County” and the Law Committee. This is a technical shortcoming in the procedure that a professional political organization would avoid like the plague. People in the know have informed us that candidates are handling all of the pages of their petitions and in many instances adding or correcting material on previously witnessed sheets. This is bad technique and a strategic blunder. That’s because whether or not such additions or corrections are appropriate are subject to close judicial scutiny, with cross-examination of the candidates during what could become protracted election part trials. Or to put it another way, if the Democratic candidates feel more threatened by the Republicans in 2012, wouldn’t it make sense for them to attack the GOP petitions, which are weak in a variety of ways, to avoid campaigning and election problems later?
SPECIAL BONUS RESPONSES FROM GATE’S FACEBOOK PAGE:
Joseph Hayon: I had chest pains. I was not admitted in the hospital. It was just muscle pain. The pain is gone.
Gatemouth: Probably from too much kugel. Just tell me your mother's first name and I’ll say a prayer for you. Diverting Resources from Turner, Brooklyn GOP Hunted Fellow Republicans in Primaries–With More “Atlaatlasshrugsinbrooklyn.wordpress.com
Six years ago I called for a full fledged boycott of the entire Independence Party. Simcha Felder is seemingly the first candidate offered the line to eschew it. His reason for doing so (Fulani) is good, though a better reason would be that all the IP factions are scum. Nonetheless, kudos for Simcha are in order. Felder Turns Down Independence Party Line Over Lenora Fulani Ties | City & State www.cityandstateny.com
The official website of the Israeli Knesset notes that Menachem Begin's Herut (now Likud) Party "also served as a "watchdog" for democracy, and inter alia demanded the abolishment of the Emergency Regulations and the military administration for the Arab citizens of Israel, that prevailed until 1966."
Begin was not my cup of tea, but his was a right wing Zionism committed to both democratic norms and intellectual honesty.
Today, the last honest Herutnik is Knesset Speaker Reuvin Rivlin. I think Rivlin's policy prescriptions are both dead wrong and potentially disastrous for Israel, but Rivlin is seemingly the only right wing Zionist both committed to democratic norms, and honest about the implications of the policies he advocates. The One-State Solution www.theatlantic.com
The Post's media column complains about Spike Lee growing up in Cobble Hill:
"What? That is not the brownstone Brooklyn Spike Lee glorifies in his movies."
Nonsense.
Little Shelton (as my favorite bartender Dmitri, who was in kindergarten at PS 29 with Spike, refers to him) has owned up to this for decades. Here he is in Playboy in 1991:
PLAYBOY (actually Elvis Mitchell): jungle Fever and Do the Right Thing both deal with the relationships between blacks and Italians in the outer boroughs of New York. Why did you choose to deal with that twice?
LEE: Well, history has proven that in New York City, those are the two most violent, volatile combinations of ethnic groups. Black people and Jewish people have static, but it rarely ever elevates to a physical thing. Little Italy, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, Canarsie-black people know that these are neighborhoods that you don't fuck around in.
PLAYBOY: What do you remember as a kid about that kind of thing-that feeling of fear you talk about?
LEE: Well, I grew up in sort of an Italian neighborhood. I lived in Cobble Hill before I moved here to Fort Greene. A lot of Italian people there. And we were really the first black family to move into Cobble Hill. For the first couple of days, we got called nigger," but we were basically left alone. We weren't perceived as a threat, because there was only one of us. In fact, some of my best friends who lived down the block were the Tuccis. Louis Tucci, Joe Tucci. Annabella's [Sciorra] family [in Jungle Fever], they're the Tuccis.
PLAYBOY: While growing up in that kind of neighborhood, what was your feeling about Italians?
LEE: I think Cobble Hill is a lot different than Bensonhurst. You had a lot of Jewish people in Cobble Hill, too, so it just seemed to be more-I don't want to use the word intelligent, but –
PLAYBOY: Tolerant?
LEE: Yeah, that would be a good word.
Love his patronizing use of the word "seemed'. G-d forbid he should give the Jews some credit. TomKatin’ summer www.nypost.com
B.B King is a Republican. Ray Charles and James Brown were Republicans. The fact that Mike Love is a Republican is little more than a distraction in the matter of why he is the all time most despised member of any Hall of Fame status rock and roll band (even though he was not the member of his group who befriended Charles Manson). The Politics Of The Beach Boys andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com